Assessing the optimum temperature for survival, growth and reproduction of adult Caspian Sea Pontogammarus maeoticus

This study was conducted to assess the effect of different levels of temperature on survival, growth and reproduction of adult Caspian Sea Pontogammarus rnaeoticus. Temperature effects were studied in 5 thermal levels (15, 20, 25, 30 and 35°C) where salinity was constant (7.1±0.2ppt). The sampling was made from Hassan-nrud coastal area in Guilan province. The results showed that survival was maximum at 20CC (95.56%) with higher temperatures showing a significant descending trend in survival (P<0.05) in which all samples perished on I 8th day at 35°C treatment. The number of produced brood followed a significant ascending , trend from 15°C to 25°C treatments and reached its climax at 25°C (117.3+12.2 broods). The minimum value for produced brood was reported at 15°C treatment (21.3±2.4 broods). A significant persistent increment of growth rate was observed throughout all treatments (P<0.05) where the maximum and minimum values were observed for the final (5.76±0.1mm) and the first (1.77±0.06mm) treatments, respectively. We suggest 25°C, 20°C and 30°C temperature treatments for producing the maximum brood per unit of time, the highest survival rate and the maximum growth, respectively. The temperature 25°C is defined as the best for aquaculture of pontogammarus as livefood of aquatic organisms

The Effectiveness of a supportive educative program on mothers’ knowledge and behavior about breast feeding in health care centers of Shahrekord city 2012

Background and aims: Breast feeding because of many advantages is preferred on any replacement feeding for all infants. One of the major causes of discontinuation of breast feeding is insufficient knowledge of mothers from the benefits of it. So, the aim of this study was the effect of a supportive educative program on mothers' knowledge and performance that referred to health care centers of Shahrekord city. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, carried out in 2012, 168 mothers (each group, 84 persons) were divided randomly into two groups: experimental and control. The program performed in nine sessions of 2 hours. Data collection tool was questionnaire. Questionnaires were completed by both groups; the training received after re-training questionnaire was completed by two groups. The data were analyzed by software SPSS. Results: The demographic characteristics of 2 groups were not significant different. Average scores of breastfeeding information before launching the application in the experimental group was 78.59±18.49 and in the control group 75.93±18.62 and after the program in the experimental group was 89.90±13.85 and in the control group 77.24±15.45. The average of performance scores before the program in the experimental group was 45.41±24.62, and in the control group 50.62±25.33 and after the run the program in the experimental group 76.45±21.08 and in the control group 51.04±24.80 respectively. There was no significant difference between mean knowledge and performance scores of experimental and control groups before the intervention (P=0.35), but after the intervention, difference was significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: The results showed the effectiveness of this supportive educative program on increasing mothers' knowledge and performance about breast-feeding. Regarding the cheap, simple and appropriate ability to run of the program recommended that the program performed by health workers for breastfeeding mothers even be extended to other women of reproductive age

Histomorphological investigation of Liza aurata (Risso, 1810) (Mugilidae) ovary in the late oogenesis in the Caspian Sea

In the present study, various developmental stages of Liza aurata oocyte, especially IV and V stages have been described. On the basis of histological investigations, oocyte development in L. aurata comprises immature (I), the early maturing (II), the late maturing (III), mature (IV), ripe (V), and spent (VI) stages. In the stages I and II, nucleus occupied a large volume of oocyte. Vacuolization and vitellogenesis appearance started at stage III. Vitellogenesis increased by further growth of oocyte at stage IV and also vacuolization occurred. Zona radiata and follicular cells were more conspicuous at this stage. In the late stage IV, the number of vacuoles decreased due to the fusing of small vacuoles and nucleoli located on different places of the nucleus at this stage. At stage V, oocyte normally possessed one or two oil droplets; nucleus disappeared after migration to animal pole. Recently spawned oocytes were fluid, lemon in color and 779.2µm in diameter. The maximum gonadosomatic index (GSI) value was found at stage V

Determination of chromosomes that control physiological traits associated with salt tolerance in barley at the seedling stage

Salt stress is one of the most important abiotic stresses, and plays an important role in reducing the yield of crops worldwide. It is now recognized that tolerance to salinity is genetically and physiologically complex and also inherited quantitatively. Barley is a short-season, early maturing, diploid and self pollinating crop, thus it is an ideal model plant for genetic and physiological studies of salinity tolerance. In order to map the genes/QTLs for salinity tolerance in barley, 72 doubled-haploid lines derived from a cross between ‘Steptoe’ and ‘Morex’ were used in an experiment using a randomized complete factorial design with three replications. The phenotypic traits under study included: chlorophyll contents, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fo, Fv, Fv/Fm), proline and carbohydrate rates, relative water content (RWC) and dry and wet weight of plant. Analysis of variance results showed that there were significant differences among the lines and different levels of salinity for all the traits. The strongest correlation was observed between dry and wet weight of plant (r = 0.95**). QTL analysis was performed using the genetic linkage map derived from 327 RFLP molecular markers and QTL cartographer software with the composite interval mapping method. Phenotypic variations that were explained by these QTLs, ranged from 10.64 to 24.20. The highest and lowest phenotypic variances were related to chlorophyll content (Q3cls) and Fv/Fm (Q1fv/fms), respectively. LOD values ranged from 2.77 to 6.33. The highest LOD scores were attained for Fv/Fm on chromosome 2H. Physiological traits associated with salt tolerance in this population were mapped to chromosomes 1H, 2H, 5H and 7H.Key words: Barley, QTL, salinity, stress, tolerance

Determinant criteria for designing Health benefit package in selected countries

Health benefit package described as primary health interventions that provided with government using general funds for all regardless their financial ability. This study was aimed at determine appropriate pattern for Iran using comparative survey of Health benefit package in various countries. A review exploration was done, scholars was selected population of both developed and developing countries, required information was also extracted by articles, searches and reports of reliable sources and date were analyzed by SPSS, in brief. The vast majority frequencies was respectively allocated to accessibility (40.7%), cost- effectiveness (29.6%), prioritize, efficacy and cost (22.2%). most countries located in WHO African region were selected cost-effectiveness and accessibility, WHO southeast Asia region were selected, coverage, prioritize, efficacy and quality and finally most WHO Europeans region were elected effectiveness and services costs for including services in Health benefit package. According to most Health benefit package designer emphasis on criteria including accessibility and costeffectiveness, to design Health benefit package for Iran, these criteria must be noticed

Smart-BIM (Building Information Modeling)

Purpose: After a long period of international research and development, BIM has become mature. Many tools support the BIM process, or at least they claim. BIM not only offers opportunities for the Architectural Engineering and Construction industry, but also for the client. In this paper we don’t focus on the professional client, but on the client of a building assignment that act as the end-user. Involvement of the end user in the design process has been advocated by many scholars and designers, but has so far only marginally been adopted in practice. The importance of user participation is demonstrated by the lack of success of smart technologies in new housing or in renovation. Particularly elderly people resist accepting these technologies in their home environment, although they could benefit from these technologies to improve comfort and health care. As a result of poor understanding of these new technologies by both designers and end users, researchers observe that there is a mismatch between user demands and smart technology usability. Hence, this paper is an attempt to improve the role of users in the design process in two ways. Firstly, by adding the missing components of smart technology to current BIM model libraries. Secondly, by developing a virtual model in which users can interact with the smart technologies and configure their preferred layout. The final results are interesting not only for technology developers but also for housing designers who aim at improving the quality of life in future housing for aging society. Method: For a better understanding of BIM, a historical perspective is taken in this paper. The initiatives from different research institutes are discussed and how they affected each other. The up-take by the software industry is highlighted and their delicate relationship with science. In today’s design process BIM systems support spatial design that is accommodate by smart technology. Usually this smart technology is added after the spatial design in the final design stage by the installations expert. In our research we want to turn this process around; the smart technologies are accommodated by spatial design. Therefore we develop a design system with a library of smart components such as smart wall, smart kitchen and smart furniture. The difference between smart technologies and standard building components is that smart technologies interact with the building users. BIM allows for realistic visualization of designs in an early stage. In our prototype system, clients are presented a virtual space with a wide range of smart technologies. After being introduced to these technologies, the client expresses how these will fit within his/her activities. Following he/she can experience in the virtual model how smart technologies react when activities are executed. Results &amp; Discussion A prototype system is presented that allows clients such as elderly to experience smart technologies. In contrast with traditional design it does not start from the spatial layout but from the activities that should be accommodated supported by smart technologies. We expect that fundamentally different layout will emerge from this approach. Although no experimental data are available yet, some first experiences will be discussed

Right Atrial Blood Cyst with Stones Suspended from the Coronary Sinus

ABSTRACT: Cardiac blood cysts are rare benign neoplasms, usually involving the cardiac valves and are remnants of the Chiari network. They are usually detected in the first six months of life and rarely occur in children or adults. We report a 76-year-old male patient who was referred to the Imam Ali Hospital affiliated with Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran, in 2018 with dyspnoea. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a small patent foramen ovale (PFO) and a circumferential mobile cystic mass in the right atrium, with the impression of a tumour or thrombus. The patient underwent open-heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass to repair to PFO and remove the intra-atrial lesion. During surgical examination of the right atrial cavity, a blood cyst containing small stone-like structures on the coronary sinus valve of the right atrium was found. The post-operative course was uneventful and no recurrence of tumour was detected during six months of follow-up. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a right atrial blood cyst with a few nodule-like stones in an adult with PFO in Iran and the second case in an adult with PFO worldwide.Keywords: Cyst; Coronary Sinus; Adult; Operative Surgical Procedure; Case Report; Iran

Antidiabetic effects of Eucalyptus globulus on pancreatic islets: a stereological study

The leaves of Eucalyptus globulus (eucalyptus) are used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in traditional medicine. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of eucalyptus on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced damage in pancreatic islands by stereological methods. Fifty mature normoglycaemic male Wistar rats, weighing 200-250 g, were selected and randomly divided into 5 groups (n = 10): control; STZ-induced diabetic (D) - by intraperitoneal injection of 60 mg/kg streptozotocin; treated control (TC); and treated diabetic (TD1, 2), respectively, received 20 and 62.5 g/kg of eucalyptus in their diet, and 2.5 g/L aqueous extract of eucalyptus in their drinking water from one week after induction of diabetes. After four weeks of the experiment, stereological estimation of volume density and total volume of islets and beta cells, volume-weighted mean islet volume, mass of the islets and pancreas, and total number of islets were carried out. Administration of eucalyptus significantly decreased the weight loss and increase of water and food intake in the treated diabetic groups in comparison to the STZ-induced diabetic (D) group. Volume density and total volume of islets, volume-weighted mean islet volume, mass of islets, and mass of pancreas of both treated diabetic groups were higher than the D group. In TD2, these stereological parameters increased significantly compared to the D group (p < 0.001). Volume density and total volume of beta cells increased 21% and 65%, respectively, in the TD2 group, but it was not statistically significant compared to the diabetic group (p > 0.05). The results suggested that Eucalyptus globulus with a dose-dependent manner ameliorates diabetic states by partial restoration of pancreatic beta cells and repair of STZ-induced damage in rats. This study suggests a beneficial effect of eucalyptus in the treatment of diabetes. (Folia Morphol 2010; 69, 2: 112-118